Hades (11 page)

He reached the exit portal in record time, but as he stepped inside, he wondered what else could possibly go wrong.

Chapter Eleven

Face buried against Hades’s powerful chest, Cat clung to him with all her strength, which seemed to be in short supply. She couldn’t stop the shaking, but when Hades held her tighter and whispered comforting things in her ear, the wonderful whiskey-fizz sensation he gave off wrapped around her like a warm blanket and helped ease the trembling a little.

She didn’t open her eyes to see where they were going. She didn’t care. As long as she wasn’t trapped with spiders in that horrible room with pulsing walls and the faint sound of a heartbeat, she was thrilled. Besides, she trusted Hades. He’d given her no reason not to. More importantly, he worked for Azagoth, and no one in their right minds would do anything to intentionally harm anyone in the Grim Reaper’s employ.

Hades let out a hardcore curse, grumbled, and cursed again. She didn’t look. Whatever had pissed him off wasn’t something she wanted to see. He started moving again, and then suddenly, she felt a cool, fresh breeze on her bare skin. The scent of freshly mown grass and flowers filled her nostrils, and riding on the raft of air was the faint tang of the ocean.

Where in the world were they? Had they escaped the Inner Sanctum?

Still, she didn’t peek, not even when he spoke to someone in Sheoulic, dashing her hopes that they’d gotten free. A few moments later, she heard a door close, and the mouthwatering aroma of roasting meat and baking bread finally had her cracking her eyelids.

Her mother had always joked that nothing could make her come running like the ring of the dinner bell, and it was so true. She loved food. Loved to cook. She secretly enjoyed when Azagoth or Lilliana asked her to whip them up something in the kitchen, even though they had several full-time chefs. Sometimes she even helped out in the kitchen that served the dozens of Unfallen who lived and trained in Azagoth’s realm.

She wondered how long it would be before she could do that again.

“Where are we?” Her throat, raw from screaming, left her voice shredded.

Holy eight-legged hell, she hated spiders. And, as she’d discovered in that horrible room, demon spiders made every species of arachnid in the human realm seem like cuddly puppies.

“We’re with friends. They’re letting us take their house for as long as we need.” Hades’s hand stroked her hair gently. “I’m going to put you down on the bed. Is that okay?”

She nodded, and he set her down carefully on a mattress she suspected had been filled with straw. Before she was even out of his arms, he covered her with a blanket and tossed her clothes onto a small table next to the bed.

They appeared to be in some sort of Tudor-era hut that, while being primitive in comparison to modern-day standards, was pristine, as if brand new. The furniture and decor was simple but elegant and had clearly been fashioned by talented hands. A small, doorless bathroom had been built into one wall, but like Hades’s place, the toilet was crude, a mere hole in a stone and wood box she was guessing emptied through some sort of pipe and away from the home.

He sank down beside her on the mattress. “I’m sorry about what happened. I’ll be having a little chat with Malonius later.”

“Don’t,” she said, surprising herself. Earlier, she’d cursed that male from here to Mars until she had to stop cursing in order to scream. “He caught me going through your things. I can see why he thought I was an intruder.” She shuddered. “The spider room was overkill, though.”

“You’re a lot more forgiving than most people would be...wait, going through my things?” His voice was teasing and light, so unexpected, and so welcome. How did he know exactly what she needed?

“I was bored. And I wanted to get to know you better.” She rolled her bottom lip between her teeth, wondering at what point curiosity became intrusion. “I saw the picture on your desk. The lake in the mountains. Is it someplace special?”

He grunted. “Crater Lake. I’ve always thought it was one of the most beautiful places in the world, and I need a reminder now and then. Especially since most of the Inner Sanctum is craptastically ugly.”

That was so...sweet. And again, unexpected. Who would have thought that the guy who operated a demon holding tank would want something beautiful near him?

“I’m going to go get something for you to eat.” Hades reached over and squeezed her hand, but when he glanced down at the way their fingers were entwined, he jerked away from her. “Sorry...I’m covered in...I was fighting before I went to the Rot...fuck.” A blush spread over his cheeks as he popped to his feet. “Will you be okay by yourself?”

“I’m not afraid of a little dirt and blood,” she said tiredly, “and I’m not a child who can’t be left alone.” That said, she still checked out the room for spiders. And she couldn’t get that infernal heartbeat to stop echoing in her head.

“I know.” There was an odd note in his voice...admiration, maybe? The idea that he, a powerful Biblical legend, admired anything about her, a disgraced Unfallen with few survival skills, gave her a boost of much-needed energy. “I’ll be right back.”

She waited on the bed, the scratchy wool blanket wrapped tightly around her.  Soft voices drifted back and forth from the other room, and a few minutes later, he returned with a pottery mug and a bowl of steaming meat and bread swimming in gravy. Her stomach growled fiercely, and she didn’t feel the slightest embarrassment when she snatched the plate and crude metal spork from him.

Completely setting aside polite manners, she shoveled a bite into her mouth and chewed. “Oh, damn,” she moaned. “This is amazing. But I’m not going to ask what kind of meat it is.”

He chuckled as he set the mug on the stand next to the bed. “I can tell you that it’s not demon snake.”

“Good,” she muttered. “I’ve had enough of that for a lifetime.” She took another bite, chewed, swallowed. “So why aren’t we at your place?”

“Because Malonius locked the portal to my crypt to protect it, and I can’t open it without him. I can break through his lock eventually, but I didn’t want to waste time. Besides, I figured you’d be more comfortable here.”

She licked gravy off the spork and decided she wanted the recipe. “Where is here?”

“We’re in hell’s version of Cloud Cuckoo Land.”

“Say what?”

“Don’t you watch movies?” He shook his head, making waves in his Mohawk. “We’re in a recently-built realm Azagoth and I created for demons who don’t really fit into any of the five Rings.”

She frowned. “But I thought the Rings coordinated with the Ufelskala.”

“They do.” He moved over to the window and peered out, his expression watchful but not tense, which relieved her more than she’d care to admit. She’d always thought of herself as being tough, but the last couple of days had tested her resolve, and she was ready for a break. “But the 1st Ring didn’t seem suitable for all good demons. There was no reward for demons who have done more than simply exist. Who have contributed to society for the greater good.”

As an angel who spent her entire life in Heaven, she’d been raised on stories of the depravity of demons, so while she had no trouble believing that there were demons who were “less evil” than others, she wasn’t convinced that “good” demons existed.

“Good demons?” she asked, not bothering to hide her skepticism. “Really?”

He turned away from the window, his big body partially blocking the eerie orange light from outside. “You said yourself that humans come in a wide range of good and evil, so why wouldn’t demons? God has always wanted balance, so for every evil human, there exists a good demon.”

Cat scooped up a bit of bread and gravy. “Makes sense, I guess. But what kinds of good demons are you talking about?”

The muscles in his shoulders rippled as he shrugged, and her pulse kicked. When she’d clung to him earlier, her lips had been
right there
. She could have kissed him. Licked his skin to see if it tasted as smoky as it smelled.

At least, she could have done all of that if she hadn’t been occupied with trying to keep from curling up into a weeping ball of spider-trauma.

“Kinds like the ones who work at Underworld General Hospital.” He propped one booted foot against the wall behind him, his pose casual, but deadly energy remained coiled beneath the surface, so tangible that Cat swore she could feel it dance on her skin. He might say they were safe, but he was prepared for anything. So
he
might not feel safe, but she did. Nothing was going to get past him.

“Or the ones who live among humans and do nothing more than try to fit in,” he continued. “Before this expansion, they went to the 1st Ring, which is still a pretty hellish experience. Here demons can actually enjoy their time until they’re reincarnated. Which, thanks to Revenant being Sheoul’s new overlord, happens pretty quickly.”

Someone who looked human walked past the window, a ball in his hand. Hades didn’t even glance at the guy, but Cat had a feeling he was well aware of every step the male took.

“I’m curious,” she said after the guy disappeared. “In Heaven, humans choose their appearance, but everyone can still ‘see’ each individual as the person they’d always known, even if they knew them on Earth as a twelve-year-old boy, but in Heaven they appear as a twenty-five-year-old female. Is it the same here?”

Hades dipped his head. “Essentially. Demons in the Inner Sanctum do choose their appearances, but people don’t always recognize them. I think it’s because they’re rarely born twice as the same species.”

Huh. It hadn’t occurred to her that a Seminus demon wouldn’t be born again as a Sem. “How does that work?”

He cocked an eyebrow. “Do you really want to talk about this?”

“It’s your fault,” she said around a mouthful of bread. “You piqued my curiosity.”

“Well then,” he said with a lopsided grin and an impish glint in his eyes, “I guess I’ll have to satisfy your…curiosity.”

Oh, yes, please. Satisfy anything you want
.

She swallowed about a million times to keep her mouth from opening and those exact words from falling out.

 Hades didn’t seem to notice the lustful distress he’d caused, continuing his demonic reincarnation lesson as if he hadn’t just teased her with sexual undertones. “Demons here are generally reborn as a member of a species that fits within their soul’s Ufelskala, but every once in a while a level one will be reincarnated as a species that rates a five, or vice versa. It’s why you’ll sometimes encounter a Soulshredder that wants to help others, or a Slogthu that likes to kill.”

That made sense, she supposed. Anomalies happened in every species on Earth, so why not in Sheoul? “So how does all of this work? How do you keep everyone in line?”

“That’s the reason the Rings are all based on the Ufelskala. No matter your score, you can travel to any level that is higher on the scale, but never lower. So an Ufelskala Tier Two demon can travel between the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th Rings, but they can’t go to the 1st Ring. And no one from any Ring can come here.”

She considered that for a moment. “But as you said, the Ufelskala scale is based on a species’ level of evil as a whole, and not every individual is representative of their breed.”

“Which is why Azagoth and my team review every person who comes through the gate.” Hades bent over and yanked off his boots. “Now, if you don’t mind, I need to clean up.”

She scooped up another bite of gravy-soaked bread. “Go for it.” Oh, wait...was he going to use the open––
very
open––bathroom? He strode over there, his fingers working at the ties on his pants. Oh, boy, he was going to––

He dropped his pants, and she nearly swallowed her tongue along with the bread. With every silent step, the muscles in his legs and ass flexed, making her fingers curl with the desire to dig into his hard flesh.

Hades hit a lever, and water streamed from a wide slot in the stone wall. He stepped beneath the steaming waterfall, closing his eyes and dipping his head back. He was a living, breathing work of art. Angel and demon all wrapped up in a package of physical perfection. Her mouth watered, but now it had nothing to do with the food. She wanted something much more tasty.

Wanted it desperately. And the thing was, lust had driven her wants before, but something had changed. Yes, when she looked at him, lust was a writhing, burning entity inside her, but there was also a flutter of attraction to the male inside that magnificent body.

But did he want her? He’d spent months avoiding her––or, at least, it seemed that way. And back at his crypt, he’d taken off just when things had gotten hot. But things
had
gotten hot. And he’d sort of flirted a couple times, the way he had a moment ago when he talked about satisfying her…curiosity. So there
was
something there. Right?

She needed to know for sure. Her curiosity had always driven her, even when she should have minded her own business, but a wereleopard couldn’t change its spots, could it?

Gathering all her courage, she stood, letting the blanket fall to the floor. His back was turned to her, so he didn’t see her moving toward him, her pulse picking up speed with every step.

“Need help washing your back?”

He whirled around, eyes wide, his lips parted in surprise. A blush crept up his neck and into his face as his gaze traveled the length of her body. Between his legs, his sex stirred, swelling and lengthening as he took her in. Between
her
legs, she went wet, and she hadn’t even stepped under the water yet.

“I...ah...I’m doing fine by myself...” It was adorable how flustered he was. Big bad Hades was completely off balance. She was so taking advantage of that.

“You missed a few spots.” Stepping into him, she gripped his biceps and forced him back around. The tingly, whiskey heat of him immediately sparked on her skin, giving her that contact high that had been so incredibly seductive back at his crypt.

She soaked up the sensation as she palmed the hard bar of handmade soap and began to wash him, starting on the back of his neck and working her way down. Damn, his body was firm, his skin smooth. She’d never touched a male like this, and she made a mental note to do it again. Hopefully with Hades.